Hannah’s Teeth

[Elrohwen]

Hannah had molar spurs when we first got her in April of 2010. She didn’t really show any symptoms except for being a slow eater. When she first came to us she was extremely destructive with paper and grass mats, to the point of being a bit nutty – I’m not sure if that’s related to the teeth, but she’s started acting like that again.

She saw the vet around the first of this year and was fine, so I’m not rushing to take her back, but I did notice something odd on her jaw and am wondering if anyone has noticed this in their rabbits.

When you rub her cheeks, she has two small, sort of hard, things that feel sort of like scabs, but they seem to be under the skin, not on top – one on each cheek. I really can’t figure out what they are and she won’t let me pull the hair back enough to find out. It doesn’t seem to hurt her (she loves having her cheeks rubbed) so I don’t think it’s an absess, and they’ve been there for at least 6 months. I don’t think it’s anything to worry about, but DH is wondering if it has something to do with her past teeth problems and maybe we should take her in and ask about it and have them checked again (I’m thinking we could take her in when we move next month and need to find a new vet).

Thoughts? Otto doesn’t have these little things, but hopefully someone else has found something similar.

[Sarita]

No idea at all. I’m not even sure what you mean by the cheek either.

[Elrohwen]

I know, it’s hard to explain. They are just little hard things, right on her cheek. When you rub them, they kind of move around, so I think they’re on the skin or right under it, but not a part of her actual jaw bone. They just seem odd since Otto’s cheeks feel perfectly smooth, but then I haven’t rubbed many bunny cheeks so maybe it’s some normal ligament or whatever that I just can’t feel on Otto.

[Lani]

I can’t really offer any advice but I think I know what you’re talking about with her cheeks. I’ve noticed something similar on Oreo’s right shoulder. Its a small hard spot under the skin near the joint. But its not hard like bone because it has some movement to it. It doesn’t seem to hurt her when I touch it and she’s never favored that leg so it doesn’t worry me too much though I do plan to mention it during our next vet trip. Other than that, I’m afraid I’m not much help

[Elrohwen]

Interesting! I’ll definitely have to ask about it the next time we go. Like Oreo’s “thing”, it hasn’t gotten worse or felt different so I figured it was normal, but DH has always wondered if it was related to her teeth problems.

I wonder what it could be … I assume it’s some natural thing, but I can’t figure out what could cause it.

[Lani]

I don’t know Hannah’s history but with Oreo, I’ve often wondered if it is some type of calcification from a previous injury. When I brought her home, her lack of socialization and defensive nature led me to believe she wasn’t well cared for and maybe even abused in her previous home so it’s crossed my mind that maybe this is some remnant of something that happened there. Of course, that is just the speculation of my not-at-all medically inclined briain

[KatnipCrzy]

Is it a hair follicle or a whisker base?

[LittlePuffyTail]

Bindi has little bumps like that. Actually Stormy does too but his are smaller. They feel like hard little nodules right, on either side, above the whiskers a bit and under the eye? Not sure what they are but they’ve always had them so I’m not worried about it.

[jerseygirl]

I was wondering if right under the eye also? I’ve felt those before.

Could her paper eating etc be because she’s looking for the fibre? Is she eating less hay? That might be the beginnings of teeth trouble. From memory, you said her spurs before weren’t too bad but enough to trouble her? Maybe it is time again.

[Elrohwen]

LPT and Jersey, good to know your guys have it too! Strange.

Katnip, I don’t think it’s a whisker, but it’s possible there’s a whisker base in there that we’re feeling.

Jersey, she doesn’t seem to be eating the paper, actually, which is strange because she usually does. Her normal method is to rip off strips slowly and eat them, but now she’s just attacking the phone book and ripping out pages at a time, then ripping them into strips and leaving the strips all over the place. She also ripped up the rug in their pen and is ripping up everything she can find in that corner of the cage (which is why we gave her the phone book). As soon as I go to lock the cage and leave for work she just goes nuts on the phonebook, even though she was lounging moments before. I do wonder if she gets like that when her teeth are bothering her because it hurts and she wants to get out some angst or something. I dunno. When she first came to us and was hyper I figured she was just nervous or that was her normal personality. I haven’t seen her eating much hay, but the same amount is eaten every day and I don’t think it’s just Otto going through it. I think she tends to eat it at night when we’re asleep.

[BinkyBunny]

Regarding tearing up paper etc. When Jack was doing that more than normal, (as he used to like to just tear up stuff for fun), my vet said that sometimes bunnies will do that if they have some discomfort. Since we knew Jack had cancer, we thought it could be related and so  I made sure I had pain meds on hand for Jack. . So, though while some bunnies will tear up stuff out of boredom and for fun,and fiber, it can also be a sign of discomfort (if it’s not part of her normal behavior — or at least the increase of it).

Rucy had tooth spurs and she was pretty sensitive to them. Many times I would take her to the vet because her eyes would be watering and she wouldn’t eat as much, and the vet would say, the spurs weren’t too bad, but that some bunnies really are bothered by them even if they are not severe. And sure enough, she’d have the spurs trimmed and she’d be fine.

As far as the nodules. I have felt two kinds that are “normal” and I’m not sure if either is what you are talking about.

1. Little bumps that are attached to hair that are buried in the skin. Jack had these. My vet said that mostly males get these, but my female Lop bunny, Bailey, had them.. It’s like a little scab buried in the skin – like a hardening at the base of a group of hair follicles. Sometimes they come out (don’t pull it out though!), and it looks like a little plug. totally normal and harmless

2. The face structure of rabbits obviously is about the same, but some rabbits have more pronounced bone structures.  Jack had big smooth cheeks, and while my other bunnies cheek structure felt slightly different, Viv has two large nodules on her cheeks right under her eyes that are more noticeable to the touch (sort of more like what Jersey said)  – I just tell  Viv she has high cheek bones. Again, totally normal for her.

Do either of those two descriptions sound familiar?

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